The Weekly Word

I was speaking with a friend of mine the other day who is the CEO, Chief Executive Officer, of a successful company. And I asked him, ‘What makes a good CEO, what makes a good leader of a company?’ He said, ‘The secret is, whenever something goes wrong, a good leader takes responsibility for it and doesn’t blame anyone else. And whenever something goes right, a good leader praises and thanks everyone but himself.’

Within every soul, within each one of us, there is also a good leader – an inner, spiritual CEO. This spiritual CEO in us is the one that can let go of the  temptation to blame others for our sufferings and take responsibility for the conditions of our lives. The spiritual CEO in us has the courage to say yes to our personal failures, and the strength to extend responsibility beyond ourselves. The CEO in us works in the world as though everything depends on us.

And yet, at the very same time, the CEO in us knows that we can do nothing on our own, that it is by the efforts of others and the grace of God that we live. Therefore, humble gratitude is the rightful response for everything good that comes into our lives, overcoming the temptation of pride to take credit for our blessings. The CEO in us works in the world as though everything depends on God.

Dear friends, may we always find in us these true riches of our inner CEO, these spiritual treasures that will not rust or be eaten by moths, that no one can steal; the inner strength and courage to take responsibility for everything that comes into our lives, and the humility and wisdom that knows all blessings, all fruit, are gifts from God.

A great Saint once had a vision, “ I saw the devil’s snares set like traps all over the earth, and I groaned and said, “What can pass through them, what is it that can protect us?” And I heard a holy voice softly saying, “Humility, Humility.”

It is astounding to think that our greatest protection against all the difficulties and dangers that we face, all darkness, hate, fear and egotism of this world that would snare our hearts at every turn; it is astounding to think that our greatest weapon against all of this is not swords or guns, it is not politicians or large bank accounts, it is not even esoteric knowledge, or clairvoyant capacities – our greatest weapon against the adversaries is humility, simply humility.

And within each one of us there is this protection, there is a humble heart. This humble one in us is the one who can let go of blame, ask for forgiveness when we have wronged, protecting ourselves from prison of self-righteousness. The humble one in us can surrender to divine will, saying yes to whatever arises in our lives with patience and presence, protecting us from the pride that we know best. And like the good Samaritan in our gospel today, the humble one in us gives to those in need who have fallen down in our path- protecting our hearts from hardening. 

Humility is our protection because it opens our hearts to what is, it opens our hearts to love. 

The Weekly Word September 2, 2018

“The power issuing from the Mystery of Golgotha does not achieve redemption in an automatic fashion. Men are not redeemed through it whether they will or no. In every instance man must set this redemption in motion through his free assent; in other words for redemption to become effective, man’s “faith”is required. The gradual re-entering of the divine into the earthly world is a process in stages. The “coming” began with Christ becoming Man. It continues with mankind becoming Christian. Gradually we are to become capable of beholding Christ’s etheric Light-form. He himself gave the promise that He will come again in ‘gloria’–that is to say, in radiant etheric light.”

Rudolf Frieling; one of the original founders of the Christian Community, from ‘Hidden Treasures of the Psalms’

Creating Altars, Becoming Priests

Our sacred service, our practice here of communing with the divine, it all centers around the altar. Not only is the altar the very place where we offer ourselves to God, it is traditionally a tomb made of stone. The altar is a heavy stone, un-moveable, dark, and at the same time, it is the very place where we turn our hearts to Christ.

Within each one of us, within every human soul there is also an altar, an inner altar. We come to this inner altar the moment we find something made of stone in our souls, something heavy and un-moveable. And just like the altar in our chapel, our inner altar comes alive when, instead of angrily hammering at that un-moveable stone in us, we use it as a place to turn to Christ’s healing light.

For so often do we experience in life stones that cannot seem to be moved, changed. Illnesses, life circumstance, struggles in our relationships, recurring fears and above all weaknesses in ourselves that we stumble over again and again no matter what we do. We whip ourselves because of these inner stones, judging ourselves and others because of shortcomings- promising, never again!- but to no avail.

And yet the Christ power in us knows that stones belong in the river of our lives. The divine in us does not want to escape or destroy. The Christ Path seeks to use our heavy stones as altars, use our weaknesses and shortcomings as the very place from which we humbly turn to Him.

Dear Friends, our weaknesses and failings are not there to make us merely angry, ashamed or afraid. Our heavy stones are there to remind us to bow and pray. They are there to remind us that we are actually priests, inner priests who with humility and devotion learn to transform mere stones in our souls into altars to Christ.

I will never forget what Hammo Hammond (a long time member) said to me just before he died. He told me that the biggest gift in his life was the last few days with his family. He told me that the love he could feel from his family, from his friends, from god, the love streaming towards him that he allowed himself to receive into his heart, this was the greatest gift of his life.

And Hamo’s spirit can remind each and every one of us about what is most important in life. For it is a well known fact that at the end of our lives, when it is all said and done, most of us will not feel; I wish I had worked harder and longer at my job, or I wish I had made more money, or I wish I lived in a better area of town with a fancier house. Most of us will not think of all the superficial things of life but think about what is most important, relationships. We will cherish our relationships. Like hammo, we will cherish the relationships with family, with friends, with Christ and the moral substances of love, trust and hope that weaves us together. 

And so on this Whitsun Sunday, let us be inspired like the disciples were by the Holy Spirit, to cultivate what is most valuable in life. Let us be inspired like Hammo to give and receive love in community. For the essence and signature of Whitsun is to build the moral substance of universal love between human hearts, love gifted by The Spirit. This love, this purest moral substance, comes to expression when we see the highest in one another and allow the highest to be seen in us. This love comes to expression when we leave behind all narrowness and self-seeking and say yes to genuine forgiveness, feeling deep inner tolerance and compassion. Love comes to expression with real, heart-felt understanding of all that is human on earth. Therefore, let us resist the temptation to to dismiss each other, to box each other in with our judgments, and life ourselves actively to the gift in each one. The gift of healing in one, the gift of teaching in another, the gift of organizing and leading in another…for there is truth, beauty and goodness at the root of every human heart.

In this way we build moral substance between us. In this way we unite the divine masculine and the divine feminine. In this way we build the body of Christ.

We hear in our gospel today words that can give us great hope, great solace; we hear the words “In this world you will have trouble and much hardship. But take courage! I have overcome the world.” Christ has overcome the world!

And yet, has the world been overcome? Is greed solved? Is poverty eradicated? Does goodness reign? 

But Christ means a different kind of overcoming, His overcoming does not solve and fix all of our problems.

For on this day, (last Sunday) when we celebrate our dear mothers, we can proclaim Christ has overcome the world not like a father who wants to solve everything, Christ has overcome like a divine mother. He has overcome like a mother who’s embrace comforts us no matter what troubles and hardships we must face. Christ has overcome like a mother who’s love and presence is always there for us no matter how dark things get, no matter what mistakes we have made. Christ has overcome the world by embracing the whole earth with his being, holding darkness with light, comforting our struggle with peace, bearing evil with compassion.

Dear friends, may the eyes of our heart open in us, that we may feel The Spirit’s presence like a divine mother, walking with us in all the sorrows and joys that we meet. Christ has overcome the world- because now, no darkness, no evil, no hardships can separate the warm embrace of The Spirit from our hearts.

Many of us have just seen the play, ‘This War is Not Inevitable’. And some of the most moving scenes were at the beginning and end when the World War 1 soldier tells us that they had seen the Living Christ on the battle field- they had seen the Christ walking through the trenches of both armies- and walking in the wasteland in between.

The Christ, who has His Being in Love, was recognized by the heart’s eye of those soldiers because His peace lit up in the midst of unimaginable terror, unbearable pain. He was recognized because deep peace appeared in the open wound that was the war. Because this is how we can recognize The Risen One, this is His sign, carrying wounds with peace. For Christ is never without humanities pain, Christ is never without joy-filled peace.

And we see this in our gospel today, The Risen Christ brings the peace to the disciples and at the same time is carrying wounds. 

Dear friends, just like the soldiers and the disciples we too can know Him. To know and love the Christ in us means to feel the peace that can walk with our broken hearts. To know and love Christ in others means to see in them the kind of peace that can hold and bear deep suffering. To know and love Christ means to carry wounds and deep peace at the same time.

May our wounds and the wounds of the world be penetrated with His peace.

We all know what it is like to buy something with enthusiasm, only to feel a few days later that we want something more. We all know what it is like to feel satisfied with a delicious meal, only to feel the next day hunger for more. We all know what it is like to feel filled-up with love by a spouse or a friend, soon after only to feel lonely and empty.

This is because within every one of us there is a place that is empty and needs to be filled. And as human beings searching for something to satisfy, we use food, we use things, we use people, chemical substances, anything that will help touch what is hollow, console what is alone. This emptiness in us is not a belief or a philosophy, it is simply an experienced fact. And we proclaim it at the altar now during Passiontide as a reality that humanity must awaken to if we are to know ourselves, “Oh human being, empty is the place of your heart”.

And yet, dear friends, this emptiness in us is destined to be filled! The wonderful secret in the depths of our hearts is that our deepest longing is not for stuff or food or money or even other peoples love, our deepest longing that wells within our blood is our longing for the Spirit, our deepest desire that surges within our breath is communion with God.

This is Passiontide- Recognizing we are empty, longing for Christ to come close, knowing that being filled with The Spirit we will soon be able to say, ‘the grave is empty, the heart is full’.

The most esoteric lecture, the deepest mantra or meditation, the truest word, all can be condensed into the feeling/knowing ‘Christ is seeing us.’

Just like the sun that shines upon us, weather its cold or hot, weather we are sick in bed or struggling with our tasks, Christ is beholding us, He knows us, He is close to us.

But why? What is He looking for? What is important and valuable to Him?

In our gospel this week (Rev 21), the New Jerusalem, the goal of human evolution fills our imagination. It is a city that is the goal, not a garden of eden. Its foundations, walls, doors, the cities very substance is all made of precious stone. Amethyst, sardonyx, jasper… But these stones are imaginations, symbols. In esoteric wisdom these ‘stones’ are actually moral substances- moral substance that human beings build up, construct in our hearts…

“The amethyst of devotion, the hyacinth of equilibrium, the chrysoprase of perseverance; topaz of unselfishness, beryl of compassion; chrysolite of courtesy and tact, carnelian of contentment, sardonyx of patience; chalcedony of courage, sapphire of discretion, the emerald of truth and the jasper [heliotrope form] of love….  “

These moral forces, from the power of faith to the substance of loving sacrifice….we see in our gospel are the very building blocks of a new world- The New Jerusalem! And freely building up these stones of Spirit is the point of life, the meaning of life, for these are what remain at the end.

Dear friends, Each and every one of us are called to become builders, builders of a new city. And at all times Christ, the master builder, is seeing us, helping us and rejoicing in every small stone that we can lay. This means that all the shiny things we acquire in life, all the worldly success’ or failures, all our trails are only valuable to God if in the rocks of life, the precious stone of spirit is forged in our hearts.

In this final Epiphany week, we celebrate the descent of the Sun Spirit, the Son of God into our midst. From the starry heights he came down to us. And when Christ’s Sun like power comes close to our souls, like fruit ripening from warm rays, we are healed, we are ripened, we are made whole.

In our gospel this week (John 5), we hear of the paralytic by the pool in Bethesda. After many years by the pool, The Son of God comes close to this sick man and asks him if he would like to be made whole. The man complains. All too human! But then Christ speaks the word, ‘pick up your sickbed and walk!’ And he was healed.

And yet, why didn’t Christ say just get up and walk. Why did he need to carry his sick bed?

Healing is something that happens on the inside. We may also be healed on the outside but often not fully. The man who picks up his sick bed and walks shows us that healing is an inner power to be able to get up, walk and carry. Healing is breaking out of our paralysis and carrying our weaknesses, our ailments, our trials with peace. Because it is His peace that makes us whole. Therefore, it is not so much what we are given, but how we meet and carry what we are given that reveals our closeness with The Spirit.

Dear Friends, in our time where so much emphasis is placed on bodily health and material wealth as signs of blessing and connection to god, let us not fall to this temptation. Rather, let us trustingly open our hearts to His warm Sun power even when the sky is full of clouds. Then, in His rays, we can find the strength to pick up our sick beds and walk, knowing that wholeness is feeling Christ’s life in our hearts no matter our handicapped appearance, no matter what burdens our destiny demands.